Hurricane Danny
by daydreamer4
Summary: A storm is blowing into Washington and CJ is having dinner with an old friend. One-shot.


Author's Note: This story just sort of came to me when I was watching the weather report on Tropical Storm Danny. It takes place in early season three, somewhere before the kick-off of the second campaign. Pure fluff. Read, review, enjoy! Also, I do not own West Wing, character, etc., etc. I'm just having a little fun.

* * *

"Hurricane Danny"

CJ sat in her office and watched the weather channel. The swirling reds and oranges on the radar indicated that Tropical Storm Danny was headed for the East Coast. The projections had it coming pretty close to the Carolinas, but CJ wondered if it might not make it all the way to D.C.

"Carol," she called.

"Yeah?" her assistant said, sticking her head into her office.

"What's the Coast Guard saying about this storm?" she asked.

"I haven't heard back from them yet," Carol replied.

"Is it going to be a hurricane?" CJ asked.

"No?" Carol ventured.

"Much as I appreciate your meteorological prowess, could you find out from someone who, you know, knows these things?" CJ asked as Josh entered her office.

"You kind of sounded like me just there," Josh said leaning against her office doorframe.

"Lord help us all," CJ commented as she shuffled through some files on her desk.

"You okay there?"

"I'm fine."

"Okay," Josh said sticking his hands in his pockets. "You've been kind of preoccupied with the hurricane today."

"It's not a hurricane," CJ said. "It's a tropical storm."

"For now," Josh replied.

"Have you talked to someone at NOAA?" CJ asked.

"Not recently. You know we've had hurricanes in D.C. before. If you'll recall, the reelection campaign was kind of announced during a hurricane."

"Yeah," CJ said not really listening.

"So what's with you and the hurricane?"

"There's nothing. I'd just like to be prepared if it is a hurricane."

"You asked about it at staff," Josh said. "I've never seen the president so excited that someone wanted to talk about the weather."

"He'll know what's going on before we do. As usual," CJ added under her breath.

"You have one more briefing?" Josh asked.

"No, I put the lid on," CJ said.

"Yeah?"

"The lid is on?" Toby asked, sauntering into CJ's office and taking a seat. Josh still stood by the door.

"I think CJ is trying to skip town before the hurricane gets here," Josh said.

"It's not a hurricane. It's a tropical storm, which is losing speed as we speak," Toby corrected him. "So the lid is on at 8:45pm?"

"Yeah," CJ said.

"It's Thursday," Toby said.

"And?" CJ asked.

"You don't think we might have anything else to put out before eleven?"

"Do we?" CJ asked.

"No, but, we're kind of in the middle of some heavy things," Toby said.

"Something could come up," Josh interjected.

"Leo said it's a full lid," CJ sighed. She seemed to be in a hurry to get out of the office. She was packing things up fast and furiously. "Maybe Nancy McNally can call everyone back if you need to."

Josh and Toby just looked at CJ. Her comment was obviously coming from the frustration she felt over being bumped from the Haiti story just a few weeks earlier. CJ noticed their reaction and said, "Sorry. I just have a thing I'm trying to get to."

"Hot date?" Josh joked, trying to lighten the mood.

CJ just glanced up at him and kept packing things into her bag. Toby and Josh exchanged a look.

"Who is it?" Josh asked.

"No one," CJ said.

"But you're meeting someone," Toby said.

"Maybe I am," CJ replied.

"Who?" Josh asked with a smile. It had been a while since any of them had really dated anyone and for CJ to start dating someone in the midst of the reelection, Haiti, tobacco and the campaign kick-off, was a little odd.

"I'm not neglecting my job to go out," CJ said suddenly. "If there wasn't a full lid I would have canceled."

"I didn't say anything," Toby said.

"You didn't have to," she said looking at him pointedly.

"Where you going?" Josh pressed.

"Nowhere I'd tell you about," CJ said with a small grin.

"How will we know where to find you if we need you," Josh asked.

"I have a cell phone," CJ reminded him.

"Are you meeting at nine?" Toby asked.

"No. Yes. Nine-ish," CJ said.

"It's nine," Toby said.

"Okay, I gotta go. Call me if you need me, but really, don't call me," CJ said tossing her bag over her shoulder and walking towards her office door.

"Have fun," Josh said giving her a toothy grin.

"Thanks," she said as she quickly slipped out the door.

"So, who do you think she's meeting?" Josh asked.

"I honestly don't know," Toby replied.

"You think it's a date? She looked nervous."

"She wouldn't be meeting with head hunter would she?"

"No," Josh said with absolutely no confidence.

"Right," Toby said before shaking his head and walking out of CJ's office.

* * *

CJ walked into the restaurant and scanned the tables. For a little after nine, it was fairly crowded. She didn't see him and so she had to approach the hostess.

"Hi, I'm meeting someone here," she said.

"You can take a look around if you'd like," the hostess offered.

"Thanks," CJ said to the rather unhelpful hostess. Just as she was about to set out into the restaurant she felt a hand on her back.

"Hi," he said.

She turned quickly at the sound of his voice. "Hi Danny," she replied.

She looked at him. It had been almost a year since she'd seen him, but he looked the same. She even got that familiar knot in her stomach. She pushed it down and asked, "You're just getting here?"

"I was over at the bar," he said. He stepped forward and placed a quick kiss on her cheek. "You look great."

"I don't know about that, but thanks," she said. "You look good too. Tan."

"I'm not a huge fan of the west coast, but it does have some perks; sunlight for most of the year being one of them. Can we get a table for two? Somewhere in the back, maybe?" he asked the hostess. He also slipped the hostess a bill that CJ couldn't quite see. She felt her stomach flip-flop.

They were led to a table near that back of the dining room, but reasonably far from the kitchen. It was fairly private area and CJ was grateful for that. All she'd need was for Toby or Josh to track her down. Or worse yet, for Leo to come in and see her dinner companion. She already felt like she was in the dog house with him.

Once they were settled in at the table CJ said, "I was surprised to hear from you."

"We e-mail. I've called," he replied.

"Once," CJ pointed out. "You've been gone for almost a year."

"Well I wasn't so sure you wanted to hear from me," he shrugged. "I had to wait to make my move."

"Take advantage of a girl when she's down?" CJ asked.

"You're not down," he said. She just gave him a hard look. "You're not up either. You'll figure it out."

"Before or after I get fired?"

"He's not going to fire you."

"You're right. He'll just ask for my resignation," CJ replied. "Who knows? Maybe I should offer it up."

"Are you serious?" he asked shocked.

"Maybe."

Danny had wanted to ask more questions. He was slightly shocked by her admission, but his train of thought, and the conversation, was interrupted by the waiter. They scanned the menu and the waiter took their order. CJ fidgeted with her silverware.

"When are you kicking off the campaign?"

"Next week."

"After the kickoff would be as good a time as any if you were seriously thinking about leaving," he told her. "It's less of a story."

"You don't think I know that?" CJ asked a little snippy. "Are you advocating that I leave?"

"Hey, I'm not advocating anything. I want you to do what will make you happy."

"And the fact it might benefit you is a non-issue right?" CJ retorted.

He gave her a look. "That isn't fair," he said.

"I know," she conceded, feeling like a heel. "I know it isn't. I'm sorry. I've just got about twenty million things on my mind."

"I know."

"I shouldn't take it out on you."

"That'd be nice," he said giving her one of his warm smiles that lifted all the way up to his eyes. It was supposed to be a comforting look, but it made her feel even worse.

"So, how are things beyond the Beltway? What does real civilization look like?" she asked, changing the subject.

"It's less neurotic, mostly, though I live in California so, there are plenty of neurosis to go around," he replied with a smile.

Since they had both order light fare, the waiter dropped off their plates. Danny dug into his meal while CJ slowly picked through her salad before eating a bite.

"I wasn't sure you'd be able to get out so early on a Thursday," he said, making conversation.

"Slow news day," CJ replied. "Well, not slow, but there's only so many ways to skin a cat."

"You can't blame the room," he replied. "It's a huge story."

"Are you wishing that you were writing it?"

"Yes. And no. I like the president personally, but professionally this was…pretty horrendous."

"You don't have to pull your punches."

"I wasn't," he shook his head. "I almost wanted to use the word betrayed. I feel kind of betrayed by the omission."

"Yeah."

"CJ?"

"I can't do this," she said.

"Have a conversation?" he ventured.

"No. Not about this anyway. You're still a reporter. You're still Danny Concannon from _The Washington Post_ no matter how long you're on sabbatical doing whatever it is you're doing in California."

"I'm not exactly on sabbatical."

"Right, which is why I can't have this conversation with you. I probably shouldn't have said what I've already said, but I just needed someone to…I can't talk to…" she stopped talking and instead focused on picking a stray thread on her napkin.

"You can always talk to me," he said, dismissing her fears and reaching his hand across the table. "We're friends."

CJ eyed Danny's hand suspiciously. "We're friends?"

"Aren't we?"

"We are, but we're not the kind of friends who can have this conversation."

"It's off the record CJ," Danny said puling his hand back. "Come on, I'm not that guy and you know it."

"I know. I just can't be too careful, especially now."

"Because they benched you?"

CJ didn't reply. She just gave him a look that told him everything he needed to know.

"They had to sit you down," Danny said. "You know that. They had to separate the MS from Haiti. If you're out there on both of them, it confuses the stories. It makes it look like Haiti happened to detract from the MS."

"Yeah," CJ said taking a sip of her water.

"CJ, come on, you know it's true."

She shook her head and said, "I really don't know that actually. Josh and Sam told me the same thing you're telling me. You know who didn't? Toby, Leo and the president."

Danny popped another piece of fish into his mouth and chewed it slowly while he thought about CJ's admission. Suddenly he felt like she had a very valid argument for feeling the way she did and he hurt for her.

"You should listen to Josh and Sam," Danny said after a moment.

"Yeah."

"Okay, enough shop talk. What I really want to know is, how's Gail?"

"Gail?" CJ asked with a grin.

"Are you keeping our fish alive?"

"_My_ fish is doing quite well, thank you," CJ said playfully.

"Is Carol is still decorating her bowl?"

"Hey, I help decorate her bowl I'll have you know."

"You're embracing your crafty side?"

"That's exactly it," CJ chuckled.

"What's in there right now?"

Danny couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw CJ's cheek flush slightly. "Is it a matter of national security?" he asked.

"Actually," CJ replied. "Your pen is in there right now."

"My pen?"

"And this plastic notepad that Carol found at the pet store."

"Really?"

"Really."

"You kept one of my pens?" Danny asked with a hint of a much bigger question on his tongue.

"You were always leaving pens in my office," CJ said dismissing him. "I probably have a drawer full of them."

"I seem to recall you stealing my pens," Danny said.

"You mean borrowing them."

"On indefinite loan is more like it." He smiled at her and suddenly was transported back to over a year ago when she wanted nothing more than to make out with Danny in the dark corner of her office.

The conversation turned away from current events to old times and before they knew it, it was almost midnight and the restaurant staff was giving them looks in an effort to get them to leave.

"Well," CJ said sensing the staff wanted to leave.

"Yeah, we should probably go," Danny agreed.

They stood up and walked to the front of the restaurant. The large window showed that it was raining outside.

"Wow," Danny said. "I wasn't expecting rain."

"You haven't been following the topical storm?" CJ asked.

"I heard something about it," he said.

"It's named after you," CJ informed him.

"After me?"

"Tropical Storm Danny," CJ said. "For a newsman you really are bad at current events."

"I've been covering earthquakes in California, remember? Is it going to be bad?"

"They don't think its going to be a hurricane," CJ said as they approached the door. "I thought it was kind of ironic that you came to town with the storm."

"I suppose you need the rain, right? Do you have an umbrella?"

"I don't actually," CJ said. "It's a good thing its warm out."

"Yeah," Danny said. "Well my hotel is by Capitol Hill so I'm actually headed in the other direction."

"Right," CJ said.

They stood awkwardly by the door, each unsure of how to proceed. It was Danny who decided to take the lead. He rested his hand on her arm and leaned in, kissing her gently on the lips. Even though part of her brain was telling it was a mistake she responded to the kiss and let her lips linger on Danny's for a moment before they broke apart.

"You hang in there CJ," Danny said.

"I will," she nodded. "It was good to see you Danny."

"You too," he replied.

They both exited the restaurant and found that the rain wasn't as bad as it looked. Danny turned left and CJ turned right. As CJ walked to the nearest cab she decided that the Coast Guard and NOAA had it wrong. Tropical Storm Danny had definitely turned into a hurricane and she just got caught up in it.

The End.


End file.
